The World
by KkarmaCchameleon
Summary: The alternate ending to The High Priestess and the Fool.


Fred Weasley died with a smile on his face.

When his body was recovered, people were amazed and talked for weeks about how he didn't look the least bit scared. Death was all around him, and he must have known he was less than a second away from meeting his own end, but there wasn't a trace of fear to be found on his freckled face. There was no denying that his expression was one of pure joy and laughter. Those that witnessed the terrible event would say that yes, he _was_ laughing right at the instant he died.

Why wouldn't he have been? He had every reason to be happy, every reason to be smiling at the moment of his death.

Percy was back. He was on their side again. After everything that had happened over the past few years, with his boss being under the control of Voldemort, and then when he chose the Ministry of Magic over his family, he was with them again and their family was whole again. They were all on the same side, fighting for the same thing. The last thing he heard from Percy was a joke, the first joke Fred had heard him make in over a decade.

So what if he didn't finish Bellatrix off like he'd originally planned? He had faith that Neville would see it through, or perhaps Tonks would because she was—tragically—related to the psychopath, or Lupin because Bellatrix had attempted to kill Tonks so many times. Someone would, though. He was sure of it.

Their side was winning. It was a hard fight, but they were pulling ahead. They had Harry as a leader, after all. Good was going to prevail, and the world would be set right. Voldemort and his army were on the decline, and it would only be a few short hours before they were gone for good. The Order and its allies were going to win.

He was loved. He had a great family, a big and loving family; parents who loved him and always wanted what was best for him, though they didn't always show it in ways he could understand at the time, but it was perfectly clear now that his parents cared for him deeply and would probably have sacrificed their lives for him. His entire family loved him. All of his brothers and Ginny, they _all_ did. He came from a large family that hadn't had very much while he was growing up, but they made up for their lack of money with their affection. When he saw people like Harry, who had been raised by guardians who didn't care about him at all, it made him realize just how fortunate he was. He really had had it all, even though he hadn't known it back then.

He and his friends had managed to pull off something that the entire other side would have killed them for if they ever found out who the perpetrators were. They had provided a good source of information for those who knew better than to trust anything the _Daily Prophet_ published, comfort for those who didn't know what was happening to their families, and humor for those who needed a laugh most of all. It was definitely one of the greatest things he had ever done, but he hadn't appreciated just how important it was until the day when that woman dropped by the shop.

Hermione had just agreed to marry him. Hermione Granger would one day become Hermione Weasley, and he was just so ecstatic. He wanted to tell everyone he ran into, the professors, the students, his family, the Order, the Death Eaters, even Voldemort himself. He wanted everyone to know that he was going to marry her. They hadn't been together for very long, just two years, but it was long enough for him to know that he was head over heels, crazily in love with her, and there was no reason for him to put off proposing, and she loved him, and it was just all so fucking _perfect!_

Many would say that these were things that should make somebody sad, upset, angry, or downright furious that they were dead. Not Fred, though. He was only _satisfied._ They were winning. Percy was a member of the family again. His family all loved him. He'd done something important and made a significant change in the world. In his twenty years, he had made more people laugh than most. Someone was going to finish Bellatrix off before the night was over. He and Hermione were engaged. And, to top it all off, he took a Death Eater down with him in the explosion.

Fred Weasley may have died.

But he sure as hell died smiling.

There was a lot that happened following his death that Fred would never know about. Percy was filled with more pride than he ever had been and ever would be, and told anyone who would listen that his brother, _yes, his younger brother,_ had given his life in the final battle. His mother, his kind and gentle mother who wouldn't hurt a fly, _she_ was the one who did Bellatrix in. George proved he wasn't a total disaster at dating after all and married Angelina, then honored his brother by naming his son Fred.

Many other friends and family had other ways of honoring him: Bill and Fleur's daughter Victoire named her first owl Fred, after the uncle she never met; Harry and Ginny always had a pet of some sort named after him. Several of the professors came together and decided to hang a portrait of him in the corridor where the portable swamp had been, as proof to the students that even if they didn't always excel academically, they could always find their place somewhere in the world. Luna, who Fred had only spoken to on a few occasions, discovered a new species and named it—because of its strange breathing habits—the Weasley Wheezer, and in the article about it she said it was _named in memory of my friend Fred Weasley._

Neville's grandmother bought him a new _Mimbulus Mimbletonia_, which Neville named Fred. When he took over the position of Herbology professor very year, he would tell his first year class all about the D.A. and pass around a picture of the members that Colin Creevey had taken, taking care to mention, _"See those two redheads right there? Best pranksters Hogwarts has ever seen, so I'll know if any of you are using any of their products." _Then he would tell them about a few of their most notable pranks, including the swamp, Fred's most infamous work of art, and how that had been such an impressive prank that its creator was honored with a portrait in the hallway.

When good old Crookshanks finally passed away, Hermione got a new cat and called him Fred. She never took her engagement ring off; although when she had left with Ron and Harry, the advice in her letter had been for Fred to move on and find someone else if she took too long to get back, she never was able to do that for him. She wasn't ever alone, of course; she had her parents and the Weasleys and the Potters. She made new friends and eventually adopted a Muggle-born child whose parents were remarkably similar to the Dursleys and had rejected their daughter the day she got her Hogwarts letter. But Hermione _never_ forgot Fred Weasley.

_Nobody_ forgot him.

If he had known any of this, he would have grinned even more. But all he knew was that he was happy. He was happy and he was dying and he was smiling.

* * *

So, if you're here, then I assume you either A) read The High Priestess and the Fool and just weren't quite satisfied with how I ended things or B) read The High Priestess and the Fool and _were_ satisfied with how I ended things, but wanted to see how I wrote out Fred's death. Awesome, hi there, and thanks for reading! If, however, you C) haven't read The High Priestess and the Fool, I don't _think_ this has anything in it that you wouldn't understand without first reading it, but y'know, if you've got free time, it'd be fantastic if you'd go read it. Just sayin'. Anyways, either way, thank you so much for reading this!


End file.
